


Forever Afters

by EmoricMena



Series: When Angels Die & Forever Afters [2]
Category: Charmed (TV 1998)
Genre: Angst, changed future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 00:37:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21347410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmoricMena/pseuds/EmoricMena
Summary: Wyatt shifted uncomfortably in his shoes, but kept on listening. “It was not in vain, however. He discovered a pattern— something that, no matter how irrelevant it may have seemed, it always got in the way of saving you. Thus, he chose the only logic solution for the problem. He got rid of it as soon as the moment was right.”He didn’t know why, but Wyatt could feel his heart beating hard in his chest and air tight in his throat. Taking in a calming breath, he asked. “And what was that?”
Relationships: Piper Halliwell/Leo Wyatt
Series: When Angels Die & Forever Afters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1519364
Comments: 22
Kudos: 153





	Forever Afters

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the second part, though the original idea, of the series "When Angels Die & Forever Afters". It can be read as a stand alone, since I do explain everything that happened in the previous story here, but I'd really appreciated if you gave it a read as well. <3
> 
> Enjoy!

Wyatt smiled patiently at his sister as she slammed the fridge close, a beer can in one hand and an aggravated expression on her face.

“I swear,” she grunted, sitting beside her brother at the kitchen table. “It’s like they forget I have a non-magical life too. And here I though exposing magic was a big no-no.”

Melinda took a swing from the beer, ignoring the amusement plastered on her brother’s face. Wyatt just kept on smiling.

“I’m sure they didn’t mean any harm,” he said, grabbing a banana from the fruit jar and pealing it open.

Melinda lowered her beer, glaring at him. “Wyatt, they made me look like a lunatic. I was practically talking to midair in the middle of my psychology class!” she proclaimed angrily. “Of all places!”

Wyatt hummed through a mouthful, patting her shoulder sympathetically yet clearly entertained by the whole thing. Melinda threw him an annoyed glance, taking the beer can to her lips.

“I’ll never understand how you do it.” She leaned closer, grinning conspiringly. “Or maybe you’re secretly throwing whitelighter dust like its snow in a Christmas morning at every turn.” Wyatt snorted, getting up and throwing the peal away. “Well, it’s gotta be something.”

“You’ll get the hang of it. I think the elders are just trying to help you expand your limitations and teach you how to be able to find balance with your Wiccan duties and your human ones.”

Melinda frowned at him. “You’re disgustingly inspirational.” Wyatt grinned. “And they’re doing an awful job.”

“Trying and learning are the key factors here.”

Melinda waved him off, draining her beer and throwing the can away. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be rebuilding my reputation as a sane human being if anyone needs me.” He watched her walk off, still very much amused.

Wyatt knew it was hard for his sister to take on her witchy duties at every turn— at the drop of a hat, when she didn’t have whitelighter powers like him. Piper and Leo did a great job of trying to keep their magical and non-magical lives separate as much as possible, while giving them equal importance. The only thing was that everyone in the magical community looked up at Wyatt, wanting an audience with their future king even when he’d been very young. Melinda, however, had a lesser calling than him, so her duties had only increased recently. It was no wonder she was struggling.

And it wasn’t like Wyatt didn’t have his struggles as well. He always did his best to deliver in whatever way he could, wanting to help everyone and scared to hurt or disappoint them as well. It definitely took a bit out of him, having to answer constantly to his magical duties. Wyatt didn’t know a day without them. And it wasn’t like he disliked it, though he’d be lying if he said he _liked_ it all the time. He still always tried his best, even though it took him a while to get used to the idea that that would be his life. Especially with what his whitelighter senses brought forth.

Melinda didn’t possess the whitelighter genes that he himself did since Leo had already turned back into a human by the time she was conceived. And, even though it definitely made things more difficult for her, Wyatt was secretly grateful that she wasn’t one. Because no matter how hard he tried to help and protect others, he already knew he had failed someone. And it scared him, the big gaping whole he felt in his chest every day. The emptiness and numbness, like something was ripped out of his very core.

Wyatt was glad Melinda wasn’t a whitelighter because he never wanted her to know what a broken bond felt like.

The thing was, Wyatt never understood why he felt like that as he grew up. Throughout all of his life, the feeling had carried on with him. Never growing or lessening. It was just there.

He remembered once, when he was around eight or nine, that he’d been sitting with his dad and aunt Paige in the sunroom. Paige was teaching him how to sense for his sister, who was in the kitchen with their mother. Leo looked on with a proud smile on his face as Wyatt kept on surprising them with how effortlessly he was able to use his powers. Even though they all knew he could already sense, they still wanted him to be able to be in tune with his whitelighter powers as best and naturally as possible.

At some point, Wyatt realized that the space his sister occupied in his mind and the link he felt towards her in his chest were the exact opposite of the hollowness he felt right next to her presence.

Blinking up at his aunt, Wyatt asked. “If that’s Mel, who’s missing?”

Paige and Leo exchanged confused looks, not understanding what Wyatt meant.

“What do you mean by ‘who’s missing’, buddy?” Leo asked, leaning forward from where he sat at the woven chair.

Wyatt reached out and touched his chest. “Here. It feels like Mel, but like its missing.”

At the time, Wyatt didn’t understand why his father’s face turned white or why his aunt Paige’s words came rougher and slightly broken when she spoke.

“Okay. Um,” Paige looked around the room, trying to come up with anything to change the subject. “That’s a bit of a big boy lesson. For now, let’s just focus on your sister, mommy and daddy, okay?” Wyatt frowned, but conceded with a nod. “Great. Now, how about we go eat some ice cream as a reward for doing so amazingly today, huh?” She clapped her hands together before taking him by the shoulders and leading him to the kitchen.

Later that night, he stood by his doorway, with the door slightly ajar as he could hear soft whimpers coming from his parents’ room. Wyatt didn’t understand completely, but he had a feeling it had something to do with what he’d asked previously that day. He decided that not knowing the answer to his question was better than to hear his mother and father cry.

By eighteen Wyatt had already gotten a few charges and, with every new charge, he could feel a new connection. Just as he could feel each connection disappear, once he moved on from that charge, without leaving the emptiness he constantly felt. They also never truly felt like the connections he felt with the rest of his family. It made him a bit itchy to ask and know why he constantly felt like that, but remembering the time he’d asked made him have cold feet and change his mind.

Now, though, Wyatt was a college graduate in psychology, working part-time alongside the police department with whatever cases Darryl thought they needed him to look over and the other half of the time looking after P3 with Mel. Of course, whatever time he had in between was spent solving the unending list of magical problems or with the numerous members of his family.

All in all, Wyatt felt like he was in a pretty stable place in his life to finally know the big mystery his family guarded so protectively. Whatever it was, he couldn’t do what his parents and aunts did and just ignore it any longer. The need to know was eating him alive, he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

It was dark in the corridors of the manor, though, when he entered the attic, he could see the bright moon light shower almost every corner of the room. It was a few minutes past midnight, with his parents sleeping in their room and Melinda being the one to take on the club responsibilities for the night, Wyatt knew it was finally time to make his move.

He’d been going back and forth with the spell, trying to avoid any possible personal gain consequences or any back fire from happening. The confidence he had with his final edit of the spell slightly wavered as he stood in the middle of the attic, though. For the first time in a while, wondering if he should truly do it. Yet, the emptiness he felt in his mind and chest, where someone else should have taken the place, told him that he had to at least try.

With renewed resolve, Wyatt took in a deep breath and recited the spell.

A few seconds passed and nothing happened. Wyatt looked around the attic, the bright light from the lightbulb casting what little shadows had survived the moonlight away. It didn’t seem like anything changed. Neither did he feel any different.

Just when Wyatt was about to pin it out as a bust, a burst of white light appeared before him. Taking a few steps back, he watched as the light dimmed, leaving a young man standing in front of him.

Wyatt leaned forward a bit, narrowing his eyes at the new presence in the room. “Who are you?”

“I’m an angel of destiny.”

A few seconds went over the silence, as Wyatt tried to understand. “Wait, wha- Why did you come here? I didn’t summon you. No offense.”

The being nodded before speaking. “You have conjured a spell to give you the answers that you seek and since those answers are tied to destiny, they are also tied to me. Thus, here I am.”

“Oh.” Wyatt said, unsure as what to do with that answer. “Okay.” He shifted where he stood, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Well, I guess I don’t really have to ask what I want to know, then.” His eyes held the angel’s nervously.

“No.” There was a moment of pause, before the angel spoke. “Many years ago, when you were but a mere baby, you were saved from a horrible fate. An elder had fallen from grace, though no one had noticed for a very long time. He believed no being should contain as much power as you do, leading him to the conclusion that you had to be stopped before it was too late. In his efforts to try and kill you, he did many horrible things to you. Things that lived on within you after he’d failed his end goal.” The angel looked at Wyatt as if he was considering what to say next. “They slowly deranged and turned the compass of your morality backwards. It turned you into the greatest evil the world had ever seen.”

To say that Wyatt was stunned was an understatement. He stared at the angel of destiny completely dumbfounded, his mind blank from any though besides the angel’s words.

Shaking his head, his arms crossing in front of his chest, Wyatt looked at the angel confused. “What happened? Why can’t I remember any of that?”

“A time-traveler from that original timeline went to the past, when you were a few months old. He was determined to find out why you’d turn so he could stop it from happening.”

Wyatt took the angel’s words in one at a time. He was trying to make sense of all the information that was being handed to him, but it wasn’t the easiest thing he’d ever done. “If I was so evil, why didn’t he just stop me?” Wyatt realized that he probably sounded like the elder that tried to kill him, but it seemed logical. Stop the evil before it was too strong to do anything about it.

“He though about it.” Wyatt frowned. “Yet he couldn’t do it. He wanted to save you, and that’s what he did. He led the Charmed Ones and your father into the right path, allowing them to find out the truth of what the elder had been doing and to stop him before he could get to you. As you can see, they were successful.”

Looking at the floor, Wyatt nodded in understanding. His family had never mentioned any of this to him, but he knew there was no reason for an angel of destiny to lie to him. As he looked back up, he frowned. “So, what does any of this have to do with what I’ve been feeling.”

“The time-traveler came forth to the Charmed Ones as a whitelighter; the easiest way to guide them towards saving you. However, he did many things that didn’t allow your parents and aunts to completely trust him. He was morally grey, in simple terms. Only focusing on the end results and not on the methods he used to get there.” The angel paused, giving Wyatt a second to take it in before continuing. “He was getting desperate— one too many times he had to travel back and start all over when he would fail. It took its toll on him.” Wyatt shifted uncomfortably in his shoes, but kept on listening. “It was not in vain, however. He discovered a pattern— something that, no matter how irrelevant it may have seemed, it always got in the way of saving you. Thus, he chose the only logic solution for the problem. He got rid of it as soon as the moment was right.”

He didn’t know why, but Wyatt could feel his heart beating hard in his chest and air tight in his throat. Taking in a calming breath, he asked. “And what was that?”

The angel stared at him for a second before replying. “Piper Halliwell’s second son.” And with that, the angel was gone.

Not that it mattered much since Wyatt just stood there, in the now empty attic, too shocked to do or say anything.

Wyatt didn’t know how long he stood in the attic before he made his way into his room. Laying down on his bed, he stared up at the darkness where the ceiling was. Truthfully, he still didn’t know how to feel about what had been told to him.

Logically, he knew that what the angel told him must be true. Angels of destiny had the tendency to withhold information, not lie. Meaning, the moment one spoke, you got lucky and should hold onto the information like a lifeline. It was most definitely part of whatever destiny you had to fulfill, after all.

Still, the though that he had a brother. It was bizarre and, somehow, it also felt like the lost piece of a puzzle that he’d been trying to finish for years. The idea slid right in—it felt right. But that realization made Wyatt’s insides twist and turn in an uncomfortable way.

Wyatt’s brows furrowed as he raised a hand and rubbed the middle of his chest. The place where he felt every single member of his family and charges. The place right next and in between all of that where he felt a hollow space, slowly feeling heavier than it had any right to.

If it was true…

Wyatt found himself thinking about him day and night. He was conscious of the fact that he was getting a little obsessed with the thought of his dead brother, but he couldn’t help himself. The knowledge had brought him more questions than answers. All he wanted was to know about the broken bond he felt, yet what he got was an alternative life where he had been evil and his brother was sacrificed for him to be saved. He tried not to, but deep inside he felt slightly cheated by the outcome. Thought, he knew by now that there was a reason for everything magical in his life.

It still didn’t feel fair, though.

So, at times where guilt and shame tried to poke their heads around the corner, Wyatt tried to counter them by thinking about him. He wondered how old his brother had been, what he looked like, and if they would have gotten into mischiefs together. He should have been born not too long after Wyatt, so he would have been the middle child. Which made him wonder further if he would have been as fond of their sister as he was, and if Mellie would have been close to him too. If they all would have gotten along well.

The thoughts overcame his mind so often, though, that he really didn’t have to think hard to know how the feelings of guilty were gaining on him. Normally, Wyatt was the happy, half full glass in their family. Always trying his best to help and guide others, trying to look and find answers where everything seemed to be lost, and protecting every single person in his life with fierce loyalty and love. Now, however, he was starting to feel a little darkness grow in his mind and heart as thoughts about his brother kept popping up.

Why would his brother have to suffer the ultimate price for him to be saved? It wasn’t _fair_.

Passing by the hall, Wyatt’s eyes caught a family picture. He could see himself wrapping one arm around his sister’s shoulder and the other looping with his mother’s, his father at the other side of Piper with an arm around her back and hand resting on her waist. They looked happy. They had been really happy that day, though he didn’t remember the specific reason as to why. His whole family, through all the demon hunting and innocent saving, was a very happy bunch. He could never had imagined a single moment in his life where he would look at them and feel anything but happiness.

Now, as he stared at the picture, a sinking feeling nestled in the pit of his stomach as he realized—Wyatt had lost his brother and he didn’t even know his name.

“So, you remember those nymphs I told you about? The ones that made me look like I was having a psychotic breakdown in the middle of class?” Mel said as she entered the kitchen, grabbing an apple from the fruit jar and rubbing it on her clothes before taking a bite.

Wyatt turned to look at her from the notes he’d been reading, the latest case he was working with Darryl, and nodded. “What about it?”

Piper and Leo where at the island in the middle of the kitchen, invested in a soft-spoken conversation before facing both their children amused. “Psychotic breakdown?” Piper asked, laughter evident in her voice. Melinda didn’t even turn her way, just waving an annoyed hand at her. Piper chuckled. “Never mind I asked, Miss Grumpy Pants.”

“Well,” Melinda continued through her mouthful, “apparently there’s a feud between the river and lake nymphs because of some manmade diversion in the river flow that now goes into the lake. They want me to either return things as they were— which is practically impossible, mind you, or help one side stake claim to the territory, which is another impossible, by the way.”

Wyatt hummed with sympathy at his sister’s obvious frustration in the situation. Nymphs were pretty alright, until you messed with their home. They were protectors of nature after all. The alterations to their territories was not something easily dealt with, even less _two_ different gathers of nymphs going through it. And, to top it all, against each other.

“I can see how it’s a problem.”

“No shit.”

“Language.”

“Sorry.” Mel said, resting her head in one hand as she took another bite from the apple.

Wyatt smiled at his sulking sister. “You’ll find a way.”

Before he could turn to his papers, Melinda straightened herself as she looked firmly at Wyatt. “You’re not gonna help?”

The question caught Wyatt by surprise, blinking at his sister confused. “What?”

Melinda half shrugged, placing the core of the apple on the table. “I mean, you’re supposed to be the king of all magic. Land ownership issues seem like a kingly problem-solving thing to me, I though you’d be able to help me with it.” She said sheepishly as she rolled the stem between her fingers.

It was kind of true what she was saying, and Wyatt knew that at any other given moment he would have offered to help her. Who knew, maybe the nymphs were meant to go to him for help through his sister. It wouldn’t be the first time that’d happen in their family history.

However, at that moment, Wyatt felt a small seed of panic spread roots inside of him at the though of getting involved in the situation. For a second he didn’t know from where that came from. In a flash, the angel’s revelation hit him like a brick wall and he understood what the panic meant. He was scared of making a bad decision. A bad decision that would bring further feud between the nymphs, which could potentially bring in the rest of the magical community in a domino effect. And maybe that though was a bit of a stretch, but so it should have been him being evil and having his departed brother as the sacrificial lamb.

Melinda was still looking at him expectantly, waiting for the usual smile and volunteering of her brother’s help that she was used to by now. Wyatt knew he spoiled her a bit too much, they all did. But she was the baby of the house so he felt a need to always be there for her, even if all he could do was pat her back and support her from the sideline.

A minute or so passed as they looked at each other before Melinda realized what the expression in her brother’s face meant. She frowned, letting go of the apple core and leaning closer to him. “Hey, you okay?”

Wyatt watched her hand reach out and take his, dumbfounded as to how to respond with great awareness of how quickly his mood had dropped. The cognizance of what he was feeling was completely unexpected, yet so real in that moment, his skin feeling too tight and exposed in front of his family who were watching him with worried looks on their faces.

“I don’t know.”

Melinda silently curled on his side, wrapping her arms around his waist while he threw an arm on her shoulders. They didn’t really say anything for a while, enjoying each other’s company in the stillness of the late-night hour. It was dark yet bright enough that he could clearly make out what each shadow in the living room was. The tall lamp in a corner of the room, the grandfather clock at the far end of the wall, the strangely modern sculpture in the side table that didn’t really go with the rest of the well-aged decorations in the house. It was soothing to just be, even if just for a moment.

He felt Mel shift at his side, turning to look up at him. Wyatt reciprocated the action, looking in her eyes as they shined in the dim lighting. He could see the curiosity and worry dancing behind them.

“They’re worried. _I’m_ worried.” Mel said, tugging at his side slightly. “The silent, brooding type doesn’t suit you.”

Huffing a soft chuckle, Wyatt laid back against the back of the couch. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He squirmed when she poked him at his side.

“I’m serious, Wyatt.”

Looking back down at her he could see how open her face was of emotion, something not unusual of her, she was very expressive after all, but not in the vulnerable kind of way. The way she was now.

He pulled her closer for a hug. “Let me do the worrying, okay?” A kiss to her forehead, he gently sent her off. “Go get some rest.”

Wyatt knew sending Melinda off to bed had been too easy the previous night. He also knew sending his aunt Phoebe off, when she firmly believed she had a goal to achieve, was going to be near impossible.

“Aunt Phoebe,” he greeted as she ambushed him as soon as he opened the front door. “Didn’t know you were—oh.” She didn’t even let him finish before ushering him inside, kicking the door close with the heel of her stilettos.

“Oh, Wyatt! My favorite nephew. Come here.” She pushed him by his shoulders, or as close as she got to them being the tiny woman that she was and Wyatt towering over most tall men.

“I can definitely walk on my own, aunt Phoebe.” He said, letting himself be steered anyway towards the sunroom.

Before he was even inside the room, Wyatt saw both his parents and aunt Paige standing at attention. It appeared that Phoebe wasn’t the only one who had been waiting for his arrival. All he could think about through it all, though, was that they were definitely going to grind him (lovingly) for information. He had to swallow his nervousness before it had a chance to show; he knew they were good at interrogations.

There was a reason he didn’t say anything, a very logical one to that matter. He knew reopening those wounds would hurt them just as much as his younger self had when he asked his aunt Paige about the emptiness he always felt through his whitelighter powers. Wyatt loved his family, he hated seeing them in pain. This was something he didn’t want them to revisit.

“There you go.” Phoebe said as she sat him down, sitting beside him and grabbing his hands in hers.

“Intervention?” He asked as his gaze went from his aunts to his parents.

“We’re just worried, sweetie” Piper stepped closer, running a hand through his hair.

Wyatt would have liked to think he was better at hiding his emotions or, at the very least, keeping them from seeping out. The moment his mother’s hand touched him, it ignited a strong sense of guilt and shame in him. One that he thought he could extinguish by trying to think about anything but the subject at hand. He didn’t really succeed. The guilt and shame were coming to him with vengeance as he watched his family worry about him, knowing what they had to give up to have the world and family they now had.

It really wasn’t fair.

Phoebe gasped, grasping tightly his hands as his emotion flooded her intensely. He reared his hands back as if burned to try and keep her from feeling any more than she had, but it had been enough to spark curiosity in the rest of his family.

“What’s wrong?” Leo asked worriedly.

Phoebe looked at Wyatt sadly. “There’s so much pain.” She said softly, keeping her hands away but staying firmly at his side. “Wyatt, we’re your family. Talk to us.”

Wyatt’s eyes found their safe place on his shoes. “I don’t want to hurt you. Not any more than I already have.”

“Kiddo, you’re not making any sense.” Paige said with a frown.

“Wyatt, baby,” Piper took his head in her hands and made him look up at her, her words and gesture making Wyatt feel like a kid again. “Please. Whatever it is— we do things together. As a family. There’s nothing you can do that’ll ever hurt us.”

He could feel his eyes tear up, knowing how wrong she was. “I know.” He took her hands from his face, looking down at them. “I know about me being evil, and I’m so sorry, mom, dad. I’m so sorry my brother had to be sacrificed to save me.”

Wyatt waited for an explosive reaction, but he didn’t get one. He looked up at them, they were all staring right back at him as if they couldn’t begin to comprehend what he’d just said. It was Leo who broke the silence.

“Wyatt, where did you hear that?” He asked carefully.

“You remember what I asked when I was little? We were here, in the sunroom, and you, aunt Paige, you were teaching me how to sense.”

“Yeah.” Paige said tightly, the recollection vivid in her mind.

“I asked you who’s missing. I could feel it, always had.” Wyatt said. The fact that no one replied was enough for him to know they knew what he was referring to. “I’ve always felt his absence, but I didn’t know that that’s what it was.” Taking a slow breath, he continued. “After seeing your reactions to my question, I knew I couldn’t ask again. I didn’t want to hurt you.” Wyatt shook his head, turbulent feelings battling inside of him. “I still felt the need to know, to understand. So, after debating for so long, I decided to make a spell to fill in the blanks of what was going on. Why I felt like that.”

“What happened?” Phoebe asked gently, barely above a whisper.

“It summoned an angel of destiny.”

“Whoa, wait. Angel of destiny? Why did you summon an angel of destiny?” Paige asked incredulous.

“I didn’t. That’s the way the spell worked. He said that the answer I sought was tied to destiny, so that’s why he was there.” Wyatt squeezed his mother’s hand. “And he told me everything.”

One second, Wyatt was still holding onto Piper and the next she was storming straight up to the attic.

Worried, Wyatt quickly stood up, his father and aunts already rushing after Piper. “Mom? Dad?” He asked, quickly falling into pace with them. “Aunt Phoebe? Aunt Paige?” They burst into the attic, his mother and aunts going straight to the Book. “What’s going on?”

Paige and Phoebe looked at each other before turning their gaze to Piper and Leo. Piper was completely lost in her rage, flipping through the pages of the Book of Shadows like she was about to tear it down. Leo paced quietly, his hands in tight fists.

Phoebe stepped closer to Wyatt, her hands showing her anxiety. He wasn’t sure if that was all her or if she was picking up everyone’s emotions. “No one told us anything.” She said gently, as if trying not to disturb what little calmness was still left in the room. “We searched everywhere for so long after it happened, trying to get an answer, but no one told us anything.”

“What?” Wyatt was confused. “What about the elders?”

“We’re sure they didn’t know anything at first.” Paige said with barely restrained irritation in her tone.

Wyatt looked up at her, every word coming from them confusing him further. Except…

“That’s why you fell.” He said to his father, making him pause in his frantic pacing and look at him.

“I couldn’t stay Up There knowing they were protecting Chris.”

He frowned. “Who’s Chris?”

Piper didn’t even look up at him as she responded. “The bastard that killed my son.”

Wyatt was taken aback by his mother’s words—there was so much venom in them. But it made sense now that he though about it. That kind of decision, choosing one son over the other, that wasn’t an answer his family would have chosen. Which meant they hadn’t been the ones to make it. In a way, that realization made Wyatt feel a little better.

Before he could recover, Piper found the spell she was looking for. Phoebe went back to stand by her sisters and recited the spell together.

“Power of three,

We summon thee,

And call to us,

The Angel of Destiny.”

They watched as the bright white lights shone in the middle of the attic, taking the shape of a person, until they faded and left in its place an angel of destiny. He stood proud and tall, looking at all of them with a gentle indifference Wyatt knew them to have. It always made Wyatt feel slightly uncomfortable. He couldn’t really blame them for it, though. Not with the knowledge of the responsibilities they carried and how impartial they had to be.

“You will tell me exactly what you told my son.” Piper said, fuming as she walked around her sisters and approached the angel. “Word for word.”

The angel looked at her, his gaze frozen in an unreadable emotion. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Cut to the chase, buddy. Tell us everything.” Paige said, standing with her sisters in a strong front.

“Wait,” Wyatt said, raising his hands, trying to calm his agitated family. “He’s telling the truth. He looks completely different from the one I spoke to.”

“Unless you changed your appearance.” Leo accused in barely controlled anger.

“That is, indeed, something we have the ability to do. However, I assure you that the one who was spoken to wasn’t me.” The angel said calmly. “I can take a guess of who it was, though.”

“Go bring your buddy here, then.” Paige said sardonically.

He shook his head. “I’m afraid only he can choose if he wishes to come. However, I will rely your message for him.”

“How will we know if its him?” Phoebe asked suspiciously.

“I can identify him, as long as he doesn’t change appearance.” Wyatt said, his family’s eyes on him. “He’s tall, though slightly shorter than me. He’s pretty lean, brunette and with green eyes.” He listed as best as his memory allowed him to recall from that night. Though, he was very sure he wasn’t about to forget the face of the man (angel) that gave him one of the most horrible news of his life any time soon.

“Hold up.” Paige says, raising her hands. “Did he have a small mole on the side of his nose?” She asked, pointing at her own face.

Thinking back, Wyatt nodded as he saw the man’s face in his mind. “How did you know?” Something heavy and unsettling began to stir in his stomach.

“That’s Chris.” Wyatt’s blood ran cold at his father’s words.

Saying his goodbyes before any of them could object, the summoned angel of destiny took his departure. It seemed that disappearing acts after shocking revelations were a thing for them, Wyatt though slightly annoyed. What were they supposed to do now? Was he supposed to believe that an angel of destiny killed his brother? How did that make any sense? Wyatt was really trying to understand what the hell was going on.

“He’s an angel of destiny? How is that possible?” Paige asked, clearly just as confused as Wyatt.

“I don’t know.” Phoebe said, looking back at her younger sister.

Wyatt frowned at the place where the angel had been, starting to get irritated at everything that was happening, the pain he had been feeling taking a backseat. Though, the next moment he jumped startled at his mother’s angry voice.

“Chris! You get your ass in here this instant or so help me!”

To Wyatt’s surprise, they didn’t have to wait long before the space where the previous angel of destiny had stood was replaced by the bright lights of the new arrival. This time, when the lights faded, Wyatt saw the man he’d spoken to that night.

He looked just as calm as before but, unlike the other angel, Chris didn’t give off the uneasiness the rest of his species did.

There was a second of stillness before Piper’s eyes filled with renewed rage. “You bastard!” She screamed, attempting to blow him up with her powers. Yet nothing happened. Wyatt watched as his mother tried again and again with no success. “Why aren’t my powers working?”

“They are.” Chris told her gently, earning a glare from her. “They just don’t work on me.”

Wyatt felt his father step up beside him, glaring daggers just as badly at the angel before them. “We’ve been looking for you.” He said through his teeth.

“I know.”

The monotone answers were definitely fueling his family’s anger, yet Wyatt didn’t know what to say or do. All his emotions were narrowing down to plain and simple confusion.

“What are you?” Phoebe asked, the only one who seemed like she wasn’t a second away from murdering him.

“You already know the answer to that question, Phoebe.”

Paige shook her head, crossing her arms in that defiant way she tended to carry herself in when she felt defensive. “That doesn’t make sense. You can’t be an angel of destiny.”

“I am.”

“How?” Phoebe asked. Chris didn’t answer.

“You killed my son.” Piper said, her wrath clear in each word.

Chris tilted his head slightly, the barest of movements that, if Wyatt hadn’t been paying his complete attention at him, he would have missed it. He didn’t know what the gesture meant, though.

“I did.”

Before any of them could respond to Chris, Leo crossed the space between them. His fist was already in the air as he closed in on him, colliding it with Chris’ left cheek. Wyatt could only tell how much force his father put on the punch from the way he stumbled to the right side of Chris. However, to Leo’s raising anger, the only reaction that he got was Chris angling his face towards him. Not even the hint of a forming bruise on his skin. He was very obviously a power beyond any of them.

Wyatt pulled Leo beside Piper, before anything else could happen, and stood himself between them and the angel. He couldn’t keep going like this. All he wanted were answers, not whatever this was.

“Enough! This isn’t getting us anywhere.” He stood directly in front of Chris; Wyatt was sure he could see the accusation on his face before he even voiced it. “And you. You told me that the man was a time-traveler from the other timeline where I was evil, not that he was an angel of destiny.”

Chris remained silent.

“Answer me.”

Wyatt saw Chris glance over his shoulder at his family, turning them back quickly to him. “I spoke the truth.”

He could hear the disbelief from his family behind him, but he ignored it. Even through all the guilt, shame, confusion and exasperation—if being the Twice Blessed taught him anything, it was that neutral beings never intervened in the battle between good and evil. That was, unless it was needed.

Wyatt frowned, knowing that angels of destiny were the highest hierarchy they knew of. That meant that if he said he told the truth, then it meant that he did tell the truth.

Sighing, he nodded. “Okay.” Looking up, he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me it was you?” Although Wyatt could sort of tell the reason why Chris edited that detail out (being the man that killed is younger brother and all), he still wanted a straight answer.

Seconds ticked by after he’d ask, but Chris didn’t seem any more inclined to answering than the second prior, looking right back at him passively. Wyatt felt frustration curling inside of him as he though he wouldn’t get an answer when Chris’ eyes shifted over his shoulder again and at his family.

“Leave.”

“The hell we are!” Leo spat, but didn’t approach further.

Wyatt gave himself a second to think. To think about the missing bond he’d felt all his life, the clear pain his parents and aunts went through losing his younger brother, the unresolved anger that was affecting even him, and the overwhelming confusion and need to just _know_ what’s going on.

He shook his head. “They stay.” He said, gaining Chris’ full attention. “I’ll be telling them whatever you tell me anyway.”

For the first time throughout the two encounters he’s had with Chris, he could see the shadow of an emotion cross his face before it disappeared just as quickly.

“Fine.” Wyatt could have sworn he heard defeat in his voice. “Be warned. They will not believe me and I will not defend my words. I will give you the answers you seek because they are affecting greatly your duties. Even though we don’t intervene in your battles, we can’t stand and watch when disturbance is caused by our actions.” He paused to make sure Wyatt understood. When he nodded, Chris continued. “Yes, I was the time-traveler. Originally, I was born and raised as a human, more or less. However, after everything I did to change the almost inevitable outcome of your fall, I was rewarded.”

Wyatt narrowed his eyes. “To become an angel of destiny?”

“Yes.” The way he answered made Wyatt believe that maybe Chris didn’t really think of it as a reward.

“They rewarded you for killing my son?” Piper asked incredulously.

Chris’ eyes shifted over to her. “It was the only way.”

“Bullshit!” Piper screamed, making Wyatt jolt to the side surprised, staring between her and Chris. “You took him from me before I could even meet him. Killed him inside my body, tore him apart in my womb with whatever damn poison you gave me in that tea!” Wyatt felt bile rise up to his mouth. The knowledge of how his brother had died making everything worse. The horrors his mother spoke of— it made it all the more real. All the more painful. “There wasn’t even a body by the time Leo healed me.” Piper’s words wobbled and Wyatt could barely see her through the tears gathering in his own eyes. “It was like he never existed.” Her words broke at the end.

“It was the only way.” Chris repeated, softer this time, yet they all knew it still managed to piss Piper off more.

“No, it wasn’t!” Piper was fuming at the seams; all sense of vulnerability Wyatt had seen a second ago gone. “You had no right to take him away from me, to kill my son and get rewarded for it!” She was vibrating, spitting the words at his face.

Chris held her gaze for a moment, Wyatt could tell behind the calmness that Chris was debating something with himself before he spoke. “I learned a long time ago that sometimes ends justify the means. And if taking my own life was a necessary step to save the world from evil— there was no reasonable justification for me to live on. No matter how much I didn’t want it, or how much pain the decision would bring all of you.”

It took all of them what felt like an eternity to understand what Chris was implying. However, once it clicked in, Wyatt’s eyes couldn’t stop staring at Chris, widening in confusion and disbelief. He didn’t have to look at his family to know that his expression was mirrored on their faces as well. From somewhere far in his mind, he acknowledged the way Piper opened and closed her mouth before finally taking a step back as if slapped. Leo, Phoebe and Paige weren’t fairing any better.

Before any of them could collect themselves and finish processing Chris’ words, he turned back to Wyatt. “So, stop blaming yourself for what happened. There’s no responsibility there for you to shoulder. It’s all on me. Besides, you’ve got enough on your plate as it is.” Chris tilted his head to the side, a gentle and proud smirk spreading across his lips. “You’re doing good, Wy.”

And just like that, Wyatt watched as his brother disappeared in ethereal white lights.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone that inspired me further with your feedback and encouraged me to finish this when I found myself in a small block. I really appreciate it and love you all for it!
> 
> This is the end of this series-- I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. It's by no means perfect, but thank you, nevertheless, for sticking with me on this short ride. <3
> 
> Also, credit where credit is due. This was inspired by an amazing short story, which you can all check out here:  
Angel of Destiny by arobynsung


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